The present embodiments relate to medical imaging. In medical imaging, the interior of a patient is scanned. Various approaches are possible, such as magnetic resonance (MR), computed tomography (CT), x-ray, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, positron emission tomography (PET), or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Three-dimensional (3D) visualization is a common practice to assess and record the internal conditions of patients. The scan data is used to render an image of the patient. Images simulating a “fly-through” or from different viewpoints within the volume may be generated. The user may interact with the rendering to alter the location of the viewpoint, direction of viewing from the viewpoint, and/or rendering parameters.
In terms of high-performance rendering from the volume of a large amount of data, interactive or real-time rendering may be difficult. Pre-rendering is used, allowing for high-quality rendering to be viewed. While traditional pre-rendered movies offer a high quality playback, it only allows a fixed playback sequence. High quality interactive viewing of large data or a complex scene is often prohibitive due to the intense computer computational power required.
Interactivity is usually performed in real-time rendering. However, photorealistic rendering of 3D/4D volumetric image scenes requires a large amount of computer processing power that is prohibitive for producing the high framerate required for interactivity on conventional computing devices. For use cases such as an endoscopic view, high quality is particularly required for every frame. Providing interactivity by sacrificing image quality is not desired.